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Elton John Comes Out in Support of HIV/AIDS

Submitted by Sophia Turner on Thu, 05/07/2015 - 18:44

A global-health fund that attempts to fight poverty and diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria has found support from music legend Elton John.

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR in short, launched by President George W. Bush, has been in the news recently. Sir John strongly opposed a cut in the PEPFAR funding. He, rather, said the fund was a great use of federal dollars and the world stop keep making contributions to it.

Sir John, who is a long-time proponent of AIDS control, founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992. Through this initiative, he wanted to spread awareness about AIDS control, pulling it out of the stigma it currently faces.

Appearing before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on US global health programs chaired by South Carolina Senator, Lindsey Graham, the gay singer emphatically spoke about the significant role the Congress could play in AIDS eradication. However, he referred to a period, a ‘window of opportunity’ as he called it, during which action was to be taken.

John went on saying that the LGBT community faced the maximum stigma. Persons infected with HIV/AIDS were quarantined and marginalized by the society. In fact, certain African communities penalize its gay members, which prevent them from coming out in the open and seeking required medical help.

“They go underground, and the disease is spread even further”, he stated.

The singer urged the Congress to continue its fight against HIV, the virus responsible for the dreadful disease AIDS. He lauded Pope Francis’s efforts of preaching compassion and tried to add weight to the issue by giving it a religious connotation, by saying that Jesus would be shocked to see his people stigmatized in this way.